Mar. 17, 2013

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Written by

C.L. Brown

The Courier-Journal

Mar 16, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Louisville Cardinals players celebrate on the bench against the Syracuse Orange during the second half of the championship game at the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden. Louisville won 78-61. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports / Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

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The University of Louisville basketball team literally has been down this NCAA Tournament road before, playing as the No. 1 overall seed with a potential trip through Indianapolis to reach the Final Four.

It didn’t end well in 2009, when the Cardinals were upstaged by Michigan State in the Elite Eight despite playing a de facto home game in Lucas Oil Stadium. This, however, is a very different U of L team.

The Cards might not be as talented as the team that boasted a frontcourt of Terrence Williams, Earl Clark (both NBA lottery picks) and Samardo Samuels, who played two seasons in the league, but coach Rick Pitino favors another trait that this team has plenty of.

“We don’t have two lottery picks, but we probably have more parts,” he said. “But I think it’s a very good team. It’s far different. This team is very, very humble. Very humble. There’s no ego involved with this team at all, so they’re not as overly confident as that team was.”

Members of that 2009 team have admitted beating Arizona 103-64 in Sweet 16 was the worst outcome for their attitude. They went into the Michigan State game thinking the Final Four was a given.

They quickly found out it wasn’t.

“Togetherness, unselfishness, playing for each other is often overlooked and undervalued,” CBS analyst Clark Kellogg said. “Talent is necessary, but those attributes of unity and chemistry can be an equalizer as long as the talent gap isn’t super great.”

Kellogg says experience plays a big role, too. He leans toward this year’s team being better equipped to make a long run because it has so many key components back from last year’s Final Four team.

Pitino said that after last year’s success he told his players that “only a lack of humility can stop you.”

“They’re led by Gorgui (Dieng) and Luke (Hancock) and Peyton (Siva), who are very humble people, so I think humility plays a big role in this for us,” Pitino said.

Russ Smith had a chance to proclaim greatness in the wake of Saturday’s huge rally from a 16-point deficit to beat Syracuse 78-61 in the Big East Tournament final, but he didn’t take the bait. Asked if the Cards are the best team in the nation when they play the way they did in the second half, he replied:

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“To be for real, it all depends. … We didn’t really play too well in spurts, and as a team that’s supposed to be really, really good, we can’t do that. We’re going to go back to the drawing board and figure it out.”

The man at that drawing board, Pitino, keeps finding new ways to involve role players, and the reserves seem to make contributions when it’s least expected:

• Kevin Ware, a failed experiment at point guard last season, played much of the second half in place of an ineffective Peyton Siva in the regular-season victory at Syracuse.

• Hancock was vilified by fans early in the season for his struggles shooting from the outside. He’s now established as the Cards’ best 3-point shooter.

• Stephan Van Treese hadn’t played power forward beside Dieng all season, but with Montrezl Harrell in foul trouble and Chane Behanan struggling, he stepped up big against Notre Dame in the Big East semifinals.

• Freshman Harrell was without a doubt the spark plug in the Big East Tournament final, erupting for a career-high 20 points. Did anyone see that one coming?

“It is a very deep team and one that I’m very confident in playing anybody,” Pitino said.

U of L will face the winner of Tuesday’s first-round game between Big South Conference champ Liberty and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference winner North Carolina A&T in the second round Thursday in Lexington.

In yet another similarity to 2009, Cards fans would be able to drive easily to all the team’s potential tournament stops. Back then it started in Dayton. This year it’s Rupp Arena.

It’s quite a contrast to last season, when the Cards were stationed in the West Regional and didn’t return home between rounds in Portland, Ore., and Phoenix. In some ways the isolation helped them on their run to the Final Four.

But Hancock said he believed they can handle playing so close to home.